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B   M   \'\2   tSt 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


BENJAMIN 
FRANKLIN 

3avmhn 

The  Remarkable  Record 

of  a  Philadelphia  Institution 

from  1728  to  1915 

® 


PHILADELPHIA 
FRANKLIN  PRINTING  COMPANY 


I9I5 


Compiled  by  J.  LIXTON  EXGLE 


COPYRIGHT,  I9I5,  FRANKLIN  PRINTING  CO. 


'2> 


DEDICATION  ^ 

Dedicated  by  the  Franklin  Printing  Company 

to  the  memory  of  its  illustrious  founder,  who, 

in  the  midst  of  a  most  varied  and  useful 

life,  found  his  chief  joy  and  pride 

in  his  accomplishments 

and  associations 

as  a  printer 


LIBRARY 
SCHOOL 


ft435S9e5 


CHRONOLOGY  OF   THE 
FRANKLIN   PRINTING   COMPANY 


I'^28  Spring  Benjamin  Franklin,  now  entering  upon  his  twenty- 
second  year,  forms  partnership  with  Hugh  Mere- 
dith. Commences  business  "near  the  market"  at 
51  High  Street,  now  (1915)  135  Market  Street. 
Firm  name  B.  Franklin  and  H.  Meredith. 

jp7joyi^/yj^^/j  Partnership  with  Meredith  dissolved. 

ly^S January  Franklin  relinquishes  active  interest.  David 
Hall  for  four  years  in  Franklin's  employ,  is  made 
active  partner.  Firm  becomes  Franklin  and  Hall, 
Hall  agreeing  to  pay  Franklin  iooo£  for  18  years, 
(approximately  $2660  a  year.) 

iy66  Partnership  with  Hall  dissolved  and  annual  pay- 

February  ist     ment  to  Franklin  ceases. 

iy66  May  David  Hall  forms  partnership  with  William  Sell- 
ers.    Firm  name  is  now  Hall  and  Sellers. 

iyy2  David  Hall  dies.     Firm  continued  as  Hall  and 

December  2.ph^G^^e^s,  the  two  sons  of  David  Hall, — Wm.  Hall 

and  David  Hall,  Jr.,  taking  the  place  of  their 

father. 

1804.  Wm.  Sellers  dies  at  the  age  of  79.     The  business 

February  is  now  managed  in  the  names   of  William   and 

David  Hall, — later  transferred  toWm.  Hall,  Jr.  {}) 

180^  {about)  Wm.  Hall,  Jr.  forms  partnership  with  Geo.  W. 
Pierie,  as  Hall  and  Pierie. 

l8l£  or  1816  The  firm  of  Hall  and  Pierie  is  dissolved.  Hall 
and  Pierie  are  succeeded  by  Hall  and  Atkinson 
(Samuel  C.  Atkinson.) 


l82I  Samuel   C.  Atkinson  takes  into  partnership 

Charles  Alexander,  Firm  is  known  as  Atkinson 
and  Alexander. 

1828  Atkinson  becomes  sole  proprietor. 

l8^Q  Atkinson  sells  to  John  S.  DuSolle  and  Geo.  R. 

Graham.  DuSolle  remains  only  a  few  months  and 
is  succeeded  by  Chas.  J.  Peterson,  the  firm  being 
then  Geo.  R.  Graham  &  Co. 

18^^  Geo.  R.  Graham  and  Chas.  J.  Peterson  sell  to 

Samuel  D.  Patterson  &  Co. 

1848  March  Samuel  D.  Patterson  &  Co.  sell  to  Edmund 
Deacon  and  Henry  Peterson,  each  of  whom  had 
previously  held  an  interest. 

l8y^  Partnership  dissolved.     Edmund  Deacon  is  now 

sole  owner. 

1877  Edmund  Deacon  dies.     He  is  succeeded  by  his 

stepson,  E.  Stanley  Hart.  Business  is  hence- 
forth conducted  as  Franklin  Printing  House, 
E.  Stanley  Hart,  Proprietor. 

1 88 Q  January  Incorporated  as  Franklin  Printing  Co.,  E.  Stanley 
Hart,  President ;  John  Callahan,  Treasurer  and 
General  Manager.  Mr.  Callahan  had  been  asso- 
ciated with  the  business  since  February,  1852. 

i8qi  August  E.  Lawrence  Fell  and  Wm.  C.  Sproul  purchase  a 
controlling  interest  In  the  business,  the  former 
being  elected  Treasurer,  and  the  latter  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  Secretary,  E.  Stanley  Hart  continued 
as  President  until  March,  1893,  when  Mr.  Hart 
retiring,  E.  Lawrence  Fell  was  elected  to  that 
office,  which  position  he  still  occupies.  Robert 
N.  Fell  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  Franklin 
Printing  Company  in  1903,  and  William  W.  Fell, 
Secretary  in  1910. 

10 


Location  of  Business 

1728  At  51  High  Street,  now  135  Market  Street. 

18 2y  Moved  to  112  Chestnut  Street  (old  style  number- 

ing), between  Third  and  Fourth  Streets. 

18 J^  Moved  to  36  Carters  Alley  (the  northern  end  of 

Dr.  Jayne  Building,  now  occupies  the  site). 

i8a.O  Moved   to  the  second   floor  of   the  old    Ledger 

Building,  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Third  and 
Chestnut  Streets. 

184.8  Moved  to  No.  66  (old  style  numbering),  South 

Third  Street,  over  the  North  American  Office,  in 
building  adjoining  Girard  Bank  on  the  south  side. 
From  here  they  removed  to  321  Chestnut  Street. 

i88q  Moved  to  514-520  Ludlow  Street,  in  building  now 

known  as  the  Fell  Building,  and  owned  by  the 
Franklin  Printing  Company. 


II 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 

Founder 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Day  of  Beginnings 

ON  a  certain  day  In  the  Spring  of  1728, — a  day  that 
was  to  mark  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  printing  in 
the  American  Colonies — there  was  unusual  activ- 
ity at  51  High  Street,  Philadelphia.  The  types  and  the 
press  ordered  several  months  previous  from  a  London 
house  by  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Hugh  Meredith  had 
arrived  and  were  being  duly  installed  in  their  new  home. 

Franklin,  then  22  years  old,  and  already  a  master 
printer,  was  about  to  launch  himself  upon  that  career 
which  was  destined  to  land  him,  when  only  forty-two, 
at  the  port  of  affluence  and  to  bring  him,  in  his  riper 
years,  to  greater  and  greater  distinction. 

Philadelphia  at  this  time  was  a  town  of  perhaps 
12,000  inhabitants.  It  was  a  population  energetic, 
thrifty,  yet  nevertheless  giving  but  indifferent  support 
to  the  two  printers  who  had  the  temerity  to  engage  in 
their  chosen  vocation.  Printing  in  those  days  was  not 
classed  as  a  profit-making  industry,  and  the  road  to 
better  conditions  was  yet  to  be  plotted  out  by  Franklin 
himself. 

Nevertheless,  nowhere  in  America,  outside  of 
Boston,  had  printing  reached  so  honorable  and  in- 
fluential a  position  as  it  then  occupied  in  Philadelphia. 
Doubtless  it  was  owing  to  the  broad  and  tolerant  policy 
of  William  Penn  that  in  a  relative  measure  at  least  the 
printing  press  had  flourished  in  Philadelphia  from  the 
earliest  times.  As  late  as  1733  the  Governor  of  New 
York  felt  obliged,  for  some  offence  real  or  imagined,  to 
stop  the  press  then  running  in  that  city.  In  171 8  the 
Governor  of  Virginia,  when  advertising  a  reward  for 
pirates,  was  compelled  to  send  to  Philadelphia  to  have 

13 


the  handbills  struck  off.  And  yet  on  another  occasion 
he  "Thanked  God  that  they  had  no  press."  In  1686 
Governor  Randolph  of  Massachusetts  had  forbidden 
anyone  to  print  without  his  consent.  Four  years  be- 
fore that  time  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  had 
determined  that  there  should  be  no  press  used  except 
one  at  Cambridge,  and  that  only  under  the  supervision 
of  two  licensees.  These  restrictions  were  deemed 
necessary  to  prevent  abuse  of  the  constituted  authori- 
ties. 

Penn's  colony,  however,  escaped  such  espionage, 
and  consequently  there  had  been  nothing  to  deter  the 
first  Pennsylvania  printer,  Wm.  Bradford,  from  setting 
up  his  press  in  Philadelphia  immediately  upon  the 
founding  of  the  colony. 

Franklin,  in  his  autobiography,  says  it  was  freely 
predicted  that  the  firm  of  Franklin  &  Meredith  must 
fail,  as  there  were  already  too  many  printers  in  the  city. 
Yet  there  were  but  two — the  one  Andrew  Bradford,  son 
of  William  Bradford,  and  the  other  Samuel  Keimer. 

Neither  of  these  two  men  had  the  grasp  and 
knowledge  of  his  business  then  enjoyed  by  Franklin,  a 
mere  boy  just  out  of  his  teens.  Keimer  was  slovenly  in 
his  person  and  in  his  business,  suspicious  in  his  dealing 
and,  as  Franklin  says,  something  of  a  knave  withal. 
He  was  eventually  forced,  through  the  pressure  of  his 
creditors,  to  sell  his  business,  when  he  quit  Philadelphia 
for  the  Barbadoes.  He  was  an  odd  character  and  over- 
reaching, and,  as  will  be  shown  later  on  in  the  story  of 
the  founding  of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  entirely  un- 
able to  utilize  to  advantage  his  own  ideas.  Andrew 
Bradford  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  fairly  generous 
qualities,  though  narrow  in  some  respects,  as  Franklin 
discovered,  when  as  postmaster,  Bradford  refused  to 
carry  any  newspaper  but  his  own,  the  American  Weekly 
Mercury.  He  seems  to  have  succeeded,  however, 
better  than  might  have  been  expected,  and  in  the  eyes 
of  the  young  Franklin  became  moderately  wealthy,  for 
the  latter  says  of  him  after  Keimer  and  Keimer's  suc- 

14 


cesser  had  departed:  "There  remained  now  no  com- 
petitor with  me  at  Philadelphia  but  the  old  one,  Brad- 
ford: who  was  rich  and  easy,  did  a  little  printing  now 
and  then  by  straggling  hands,  but  was  not  very  anxious 
about  the  business." 

Franklin  had  arrived  in  Philadelphia  one  Sunday 
morning  in  October  in  the  year  1723.  He  was  a  lad 
then  of  only  sixteen  years.  His  brother  James,  a 
printer  in  Boston,  had  proved  a  hard  taskmaster,  and 
an  opportunity  presenting  itself,  Benjamin  broke  the 
indentures  which  bound  him  to  his  brother  and  fear- 
lessly started  to  carve  out  his  career  elsewhere.  Reach- 
ing New  York  he  found  that  the  only  printer  in  that 
town,  William  Bradford,  formerly  of  Philadelphia, 
needed  no  help.  Bradford,  however,  recommended  that 
he  journey  on  to  Philadelphia  and  apply  at  the  shop  of 
his  son  Andrew  Bradford  who  had  just  lost  by  death  an 
apprentice  named  Aquila  Rose. 

The  journey  from  New  York  proved  to  be  perilous 
and  difficult.  Franklin  traveled  by  boat  in  a  fierce 
storm  to  Amboy,  thence  afoot  to  Burlington  and  from 
there  again  by  boat  to  Philadelphia.  His  "whole  stock 
of  cash",  he  says,  "consisted  of  a  Dutch  dollar,  and 
about  a  shilling  in  copper."  The  first  Sunday  he  spent 
very  quietly,  recuperating  from  his  rough  and  discourag- 
ing journey.  He  slept  in  the  morning,  as  he  says,  while 
he  sat  v/ith  the  Friends  in  "the  great  meeting  house  near 
the  market,"  and  then  again  continued  his  rest  in  the 
afternoon  and  until  the  following  morning  at  the 
Crooked  Billet  Tavern  in  Water  Street. 

Monday  morning  he  applied  to  Andrew  Bradford 
for  work,  only  to  find  that  the  position  he  had  hoped  to 
obtain  had  already  been  filled.  However,  William 
Bradford,  who  had  preceded  Franklin  from  New  York 
on  horseback,  volunteered  to  introduce  him  to  Samuel 
Keimer,  the  other  printer  of  the  town,  whose  place  of 
business  was  near  by. 

The  two  found  Keimer  composing  an  elegy  to  the 
memory  of  Aquila  Rose,  the  late  lamented  apprentice  of 

15 


Bradford,  using  the  only  font  of  type  In  the  plant. 
There  was  no  other  job  under  way.  Franklin  therefore 
left  Keimer  with  the  understanding  that  as  soon  as  the 
elegy  should  be  in  type  he  would  return  and  run  it  off 
press.  For  several  days,  Franklin  was  kindly  per- 
mitted by  Andrew  Bradford  to  lodge  and  eat  with  him, 
doing  occasional  odd  jobs  in  return. 

A  steady  position  was  offered  by  Keimer  on  com- 
pletion of  the  elegy.  As  Franklin  says:  "Keimer  sent 
for  me  to  print  off  the  elegy.  And  now  he  had  got  an- 
other pair  of  cases,  and  a  pamphlet  to  reprint,  on  which 
he  set  me  to  work."  Keimer,  objecting  to  Franklin 
lodging  with  his  competitor,  Bradford,  secured  com- 
fortable accommodations  for  Franklin  with  a  Mr. 
Read.  Then  began  the  romance  which  was  eventually 
to  join  the  daughter  of  the  house,  Deborah  Read,  in 
matrimony  with  Franklin. 

Franklin's  work  for  Keimer  was  highly  satisfactory. 
His  genial  disposition,  his  marked  ability,  and  easy 
adaptability  to  people  and  circumstances  soon  brought 
him  to  the  notice  of  persons  of  prominence.  Among 
these  was  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  Sir  William 
Keith,  who  discovering  the  unusual  skill  and  versatility 
of  the  young  printer,  strongly  urged  him  to  set  up  for 
himself.  Moved  by  the  flattery  of  Keith,  who  later 
proved  to  be  absolutely  irresponsible  and  a  hollow 
adviser,  Franklin  decided  in  April  of  1724  to  return  to 
Boston  and,  with  a  favorable  letter  from  Keith,  to  en- 
deavor to  secure  from  the  elder  Franklin  the  financial 
help  necessary  to  equip  in  Philadelphia  a  small  printing 
plant.  But  when  he  reached  Boston,  Josiah  Franklin 
saw  things  in  a  different  light.  He  appreciated  the 
pleasant  things  said  of  his  boy  by  Governor  Keith,  but 
all  the  while  his  judgment  of  Keith  was  at  low  ebb.  As 
Franklin  says,  his  father  declared  that  Keith  "must  be 
of  small  discretion  to  think  of  setting  a  boy  up  in  busi- 
ness who  wanted  yet  three  years  of  being  at  man's 
estate."  The  necessary  help  was  refused.  But  the 
father  gave  generously  some  wholesome  advice,  "telling 

16 


me,"  as  Franklin  says,  *'that  by  steady  industry  and  a 
prudent  parsimony  I  might  save  enough  by  the  time  I 
was  one-and-twenty  to  set  me  up;  and  that  if  I  came 
near  the  matter  he  would  help  me  out  with  the  rest." 

Returning  to  Philadelphia,  after  an  absence  of  only 
a  few  weeks,  he  continued  in  the  employ  of  Samuel 
Keimer  until  the  latter  part  of  the  same  year,  when  he 
set  sail  in  the  ship  Annis  for  London. 


17 


CHAPTER  II 

Franklin  in  London 

FRANKLIN  had  embarked  on  this  voyage  at  the 
urgent  solicitation  of  Keith  who  had  told  him,  on  his 
return  from  visiting  his  father  in  Boston,  "  Since  he 
will  not  set  you  up  I  will  do  it  myself."  Says  Franklin, 
"I  presented  him  with  an  inventory  of  a  little  printing 
house,  amounting,  by  my  computation,  to  about  lOO 
pounds  sterling.  He  liked  it  but  asked  me  if  my  being 
on  the  spot  in  England  to  choose  the  type,  and  see  that 
everything  was  good  of  the  kind,  might  not  be  of  some 
advantage."  Thus  it  was  that  the  trip  had  been  settled 
upon.  Governor  Keith  was  supposed  to  have  delivered 
to  the  vessel  on  the  day  that  Franklin  sailed,  letters  of 
credit,  which  would  have  enabled  him  to  make  the 
necessary  purchases  when  reaching  London.  The  mail 
bag  was  opened  as  the  vessel  sailed  into  the  English 
Channel,  but  what  was  Franklin's  consternation  to  find 
that  it  contained  nothing  from  the  governor  for  him. 
Keith  thus  demonstrated  his  utter  worthlessness  as  a 
financial  support  to  the  young  printer,  and  Franklin 
was  set  down  in  London  stranded,  though  far  from 
helpless. 

The  vessel  landed  December  24th,  1724.  In  con- 
formity with  his  usual  practice  Franklin  had  made  some 
lastingandvaluablefriendships  during  the  voyage  across. 
One  of  his  fellow  voyagers,  Mr.  Denham,  a  Quaker 
merchant,  advised  him  to  apply  himself  to  his  trade  for 
a  time  in  London.  "Among  the  printers  here,"  said  he, 
"you  will  improve  yourself,  and  when  you  return  to 
America  you  will  set  up  to  greater  advantage."  As  to 
Keith,  Denham  told  his  young  friend  "that  no  one  who 
knew  him,  had  the  smallest  dependence  on  him,  and  he 
laughed  at  the  notion  of  the  governor's  giving  me  a 
letter  of  credit,  having  as  he  said  no  credit  to  give." 

Franklin  continues,  "I  immediately  got  into  work 
at  Palmer's,  then  a  famous  printing  house  in  Bartholo- 
mew Close,  and  here  I  continued  near  a  year."     He 

19 


says,  "I  was  pretty  diligent,  but  spent  with  Ralph  (a 
friend  who  accompanied  him  to  England),  a  good  deal 
of  my  earnings  in  going  to  plays  and  other  places  of 
amusement."  His  record  at  his  trade  throughout  his 
stay  in  London  evidently  was  a  good  one.  Toward  the 
end  of  a  year  at  Palmer's  he  says  "I  now  began  to  think 
of  getting  a  little  money  beforehand,  and  expecting 
better  work,  I  left  Palmer's  to  work  at  Watts's  near 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  a  still  greater  printing  house. 
Here  I  continued  all  the  rest  of  my  stay  in  London." 

On  the  23  rd  of  July  1726  he  sailed  from  Gravesend, 
in  the  company  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Denham,  who  had 
engaged  him  as  clerk  in  a  mercantile  enterprise  which 
he  was  about  to  enter  upon  in  Philadelphia.  Franklin's 
prospects  as  a  merchant  were  very  brilliant,  and  had 
Mr.  Denham  lived,  the  printing  craft  would  un- 
doubtedly have  missed  one  of  its  most  brilliant  lights. 
But  it  was  decreed  otherwise.  After  a  long  illness,  be- 
ginning February,  1727,  the  merchant  died.  The  busi- 
ness was  taken  over  by  the  executors,  and  Franklin's 
employment  thereby  ended. 

It  was  then  that,  as  he  says,  "Keimer  tempted  me, 
with  an  offer  of  large  wages  by  the  year,  to  come  and 
take  the  management  of  his  printing  house,  that  he 
might  better  attend  his  stationer's  shop."  Unable  to 
get  employment  as  a  merchant's  clerk  Franklin  re- 
luctantly accepted  Keimer's  offer  and  once  more  en- 
gaged in  his  trade  as  printer. 

Keimer's  real  motive  in  employing  Franklin  was 
to  use  him  in  the  training  of  his  other  employees,  in- 
tending, when  this  should  be  accomplished,  to  discharge 
him.  Keimer  himself  was  a  wretched  workman  and 
without  either  the  knowledge  or  the  ability  to  build  up 
an  efficient  working  organization.  He  knew  that 
Franklin  could  do  this.  Franklin's  life  with  Keimer  at 
this  period  was  an  active  one.  Keimer  being  some- 
thing of  a  Seventh  Day  Adventist,  all  their  work  was 
crowded  into  five  days,  both  Saturday  and  Sunday 
being  holidays. 


20 


Of  his  work  and  the  plant,  Franklin  says:  "Our 
printing  house  often  wanted  sorts,  and  there  was  no 
letter  founder*  in  America;  I  had  seen  types  cast  at 
James's  in  London,  but  without  much  attention  to  the 
manner;  however,  I  now  contrived  a  mould,  made  use 
of  the  letters  we  had  as  puncheons,  struck  the  matrices 
in  lead,  and  thus  supplied  in  a  pretty  tolerable  way  all 
deficiencies.  I  also  engraved  several  things  on  oc- 
casion; I  made  the  ink;  I  was  warehouseman,  and  every- 
thing, and,  in  short,  quite  a  factotum." 

But  so  rapidly  did  Franklin  improve  the  condition 
of  the  plant  and  develop  the  skill  of  the  employees  that 
when  Keimer  paid  his  second  quarter's  wage  he  let  him 
know  that  he  considered  it  too  heavy.  He  grew  in- 
creasingly uncivil  to  his  foreman,  sought  opportunities 
to  reprimand  him,  and  at  last  losing  his  temper,  dis- 
charged him.  Franklin  made  no  demur,  although  he 
might  have  urged  the  fulfilment  of  his  contract. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  that  he  left  Keimer, 
this  time  as  he  thought  for  good,  he  was  visited  by  his 
friend,  Hugh  Meredith.  Meredith  was  one  of  the  hands 
whom  Franklin  had  found  in  Keimer's  employ  and 
whom  he  had  instructed,  in  the  craft.  He  is  described 
in  the  Autobiography  as  "A  Welsh  Pennsylvanian, 
thirty  years  of  age,  bred  to  country  work;  honest, 
sensible,  had  a  great  deal  of  solid  observation,  was 
something  of  a  reader,  but  given  to  drink." 

Long  into  the  night  they  talked,  discussing  ways 
and  means  and  laying  plans  for  a  business  of  their  own. 
Franklin  says  of  this  occasion,  speaking  of  Meredith, 
"He  had  conceived  a  great  regard  for  me,  and  was  very 
unwilling  that  I  should  leave  the  house  while  he  re- 
mained in  it.  He  dissuaded  me  from  returning  to  my 
native  country,  which  I  began  to  think  of;  he  reminded 
me  that  Keimer  was  in  debt  for  all  he  possessed;  that 
his  creditors  began  to  be  uneasy;  that  he  kept  his  shop 
miserably,  sold  often  without  profit  for  ready  money, 

*The  best  type  came  from  the  celebrated  foundry  of  Wm.  Caslon  in  London. 
Caslon  lived  from  1692  to  1766. 

21 


and  often  trusted  without  keeping  accounts;  that  he 
must  therefore  fail  which  would  make  a  vacancy  I 
might  profit  of.  /  objected  on  account  of  my  want  of 
money.  He  then  let  me  know  that  his  father  had  a  high 
opinion  of  me,  and  from  some  discourse  that  had  passed 
between  them,  he  was  sure  would  advance  money  to  set 
us  up,  if  I  would  enter  into  partnership  with  him.  'My 
time,'  says  he,  *will  be  out  with  Keimer  in  the  Spring; 
by  that  time  we  may  have  our  press  and  types  in  from 
London.  I  am  sensible,  I  am  no  workman;  if  you  like 
it,  your  skill  in  the  business  shall  be  set  against  the 
stock  I  furnish,  and  we  will  share  the  profits  equally.'" 

Meredith's  father  being  in  Philadelphia  at  the 
time,  the  plan  was  promptly  laid  before  him,  and  met 
with  approval  and  support.  Franklin  prepared  an  in- 
ventory of  what  would  be  required  for  the  new  plant 
and  the  list  was  handed  a  merchant  who  ordered  the 
stock  from  England.  "The  secret  was  to  be  kept," 
says  Franklin,  "till  the  things  should  arrive  and  in  the 
meantime  I  was  to  get  work  if  I  could  at  the  other 
printing  house."  But  as  there  proved  to  be  no  vacancy 
at  Bradford's,  for  several  days  Franklin  enjoyed  an 
enforced  idleness. 

About  this  time  Keimer  foresaw  a  possible  order  to 
print  some  paper  money  for  New  Jersey  and  this  would 
require  certain  engravings  and  types  which  only  Frank- 
lin could  supply.  Fearing  that  his  competitor,  Brad- 
ford, might  steal  the  march  on  him  and  engage  Franklin 
for  the  same  purpose,  he  craftily  sent  for  his  late  fore- 
man, apologized  and  re-engaged  him. 

The  New  Jersey  job  was  obtained.  In  order  to 
execute  it  Franklin  contrived  to  make  a  copper  plate 
press,  "The  first  that  had  been  seen  in  the  Country." 
To  complete  this  issue  of  money  it  required  the  presence 
of  Franklin  and  Keimer  in  Burlington  for  nearly  three 
months. 

Shortly  after  returning  to  Philadelphia  the  material 
for  the  new  printing  plant  arrived  from  London. 
Franklin  continues  "We  settled  with  Keimer  and  left 


22 


him  before  he  heard  of  it.  We  found  a  house  to  hire 
near  the  Market  and  took  it."  Thus  it  was  that  in  the 
Spring  of  1728  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Hugh  Meredith 
commenced  business  at  51  High  St.  The  sign  which 
they  put  over  the  door  appears  to  have  read  Franklin 
y  Meredith  to  which  they  added,  ^^The  New  Printing 
Office."  In  his  history  of  Printing  in  America,  Isaiah 
Thomas,  who  knew  Franklin  in  his  later  years,  says  that 
this  sign,  "The  Newest  Printing  Office,"  remained  on 
the  board  over  the  door,  until  18 14  and  that  it  was 
placed  there  by  Franklin  himself.* 

The  rent  for  the  building  was  twenty-four  pounds 
a  year.  To  reduce  their  burden,  they  took  in  Thomas 
Godfrey,  a  glazier,  and  his  family,  "who  were  to  pay  a 
considerable  part  of  it  to  us;  and  we  to  board  with 
them." 


*As  the  imprint  on  the  Gazette  from  the  first  number  published  by  Franklin 
reads  "The  New  Printing  Office,"  and  not  "newest,"  Thomas  is  probably  in  error 
as  to  the  wording,  to  that  extent  only. 

23 


CHAPTER  III 

The  First  Customer 

'  "W  "T"  TE  had  scarce  opened  our  letters,"  says  Franklin, 
\/\/  "and  put  our  press  in  order,  before  George 
▼  ▼  House,  an  acquaintance  of  mine,  brought  a 
countryman  to  us,  whom  he  had  met  in  the  street  in- 
quiring for  a  printer.  All  our  cash  was  now  expended 
in  the  variety  of  particulars  we  had  been  obliged  to  pro- 
cure, and  this  countvyman^s  five  shillings,  being  our  first 
fruits,  and  coming  so  seasonably,  gave  me  more  pleasure 
than  any  crown  I  have  since  earned;  and  the  gratitude 
I  felt  toward  House  has  made  me  often  more  ready 
than  perhaps  I  should  otherwise  have  been  to  assist 
young  beginners." 

There  was  much  hard  w^ork  in  store  for  the  new 
firm,  many  long  days,  and  nights.  Yet  from  the  first, 
Franklin's  methods  assured  success.  On  one  occasion, 
when  at  the  merchant's  Every-night  club  one  of  the 
members  predicted  failure  for  Franklin  &  Meredith, 
because  there  were  already  two  printers  before  them  in 
Philadelphia,  a  Dr.  Baird  dissented  most  vigorously, 
"for,"  said  he,  "the  industry  of  that  Franklin  is  superior 
to  anything  I  ever  saw  of  the  kind;  I  see  him  still  at 
work  when  I  go  home  from  club,  and  he  is  at  work  again 
before  his  neighbors  are  out  of  bed." 

In  the  autumn  of  the  preceding  year  Franklin  had 
formed  his  acquaintances  into  a  club  for  mutual  im- 
provement, which  was  named  the  Junto.  This  club 
contained  some  young  and  middle  aged  men  of  note, 
several  of  whom  proved  to  be  true  friends  of  the  young 
master  printer.  And  here  let  it  be  noted  that  Franklin 
seemed  to  possess  the  happy  faculty  of  turning  to  ad- 
vantage, sometimes  consciously,  but  often  uncon- 
sciously, almost  every  act  of  his  life.  His  friendships 
were  real  friendships,  and  they  generally  lasted  through 
life.  He  was  always  ready  to  lend  a  hand  and  he  ac- 
cordingly seldom  had  to  seek  help  himself.  It  was 
offered  him  without  the  asking. 

25 


Of  the  members  of  the  Junto  who  assisted  Franklin 
particular  mention  is  due  Joseph  Breintnal.  Of  him 
Franklin  speaks  with  rare  kindliness.  Through  Breint- 
nal was  secured  the  first  large  order.  This  was  "from 
the  Quakers  for  the  printing  forty  sheets  of  their  history, 
the  rest  being  done  by  Keimer;  and  upon  this  we  worked 
exceedingly  hard,  for  the  price  was  low.  It  was  a  folio, 
propatria  size,  in  pica,  with  long  primer  notes.  I  com- 
posed of  it  a  sheet  a  day,  and  Meredith  worked  it  off 
at  press;  It  was  often  eleven  at  night,  and  sometimes 
later,  before  I  had  finished  my  distribution  for  the  next 
day's  work,  for  the  little  jobs  sent  in  by  our  other  friends 
now  and  then  put  us  back.  But  so  determined  I  was  to 
continue  doing  a  sheet  a  day  of  the  folio  that  one  night, 
when  having  Imposed  my  forms,  I  thought  my  day's 
work  over,  one  of  them  by  accident  was  broken,  and 
two  pages  reduced  to  pi.  I  immediately  distributed 
and  composed  it  over  again  before  I  went  to  bed;  and 
this  industry  visible  to  our  neighbors,  began  to  give  us 
character  and  credit." 

"The  New  Printing  OfHce,"  had  been  opened  but 
a  short  time  when  George  Webb,  one  of  Keimer's  em- 
ployees, a  bond  servant  late  of  Oxford  University,  but 
of  discreditable  habits,  who  had  just  been  enabled  to 
buy  his  time  from  his  master,  came  to  Franklin  offering 
himself  as  a  journeyman.  Says  Franklin,  "We  could 
not  then  employ  him;  but  I  foolishly  let  him  know  as  a 
secret  that  I  soon  Intended  to  begin  a  newspaper,  and 
might  then  have  work  for  him.  My  hopes  of  success  as  I 
told  him  were  founded  on  this,  that  the  then  only  news- 
paper, printed  by  Bradford,  was  a  paltry  thing,  wretch- 
edly managed,  no  way  entertaining,  and  yet  was  profit- 
able to  him.  I  therefore  thought  a  good  paper  would 
scarcely  fail  of  good  encouragement.  I  requested  Webb 
not  to  mention  It;  but  he  told  It  to  Keimer,  who  Im- 
mediately, to  be  beforehand  with  me,  published  pro- 
posals for  printing  one  himself,  on  which  Webb  was  to 
be  employed." 
26 


The  paper  published  by  Bradford  to  which  Frank- 
lin refers  was  the  American  Weekly  Mercury,  the  first 
number  of  which  appeared  Dec.  22,  1719.  It  was  the 
third  paper  to  appear  in  the  Colonies,  being  antedated 
in  birth  by  the  Boston  Gazette  by  one  day  only. 

The  history  of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  is  so 
closely  interwoven  over  so  long  a  period  of  years  with 
the  printing  business  founded  by  Franklin,  that  a  brief 
account  of  its  establishment  and  character  will  be  in 
order  here. 

Nervous  with  anxiety  to  forestall  Franklin,  Keimer 
on  the  first  of  October,  1728,  issued  an  announcement  in 
the  form  of  a  two  page  sheet,  7%  x  11^  inches  in  size, 
informing  the  public  that  he  would  shortly  publish  the 
first  number  of  a  paper  to  be  called  "The  Universal 
Instructor  in  all  Arts  and  Sciences  and  Pennsylvania 
Gazette."  What  news  he  could  easily  get  he  would 
insert  but  the  really  ambitious  feature  of  his  project  was 
to  reprint  serially  the  entire  edition  of  Chambers'  En- 
cyclopaedia. In  his  announcement  he  says:  "As  this 
News  Paper  in  a  few  weeks  time  after  its  first  Publication, 
will  exceed  all  others  that  ever  were  in  America,  and 
being  always  a  whole  sheet,  it  will  contain  at  times,  the 
Theory  of  all  Arts,  both  liberal  and  mechanical,  and 
the  several  sciences  both  humane  and  divine;  with  the 
Figures,  Kinds,  Properties,  Production,  Preparations  of 
Things  natural  and  Artificial;  also  the  Rise,  Progress 
and  State  of  things.  Ecclesiastical,  Civil,  Military,  and 
Commercial,  with  the  several  Systems,  Sects,  Opinions 
among  Philosophers,  Divines,  Mathematicians,  Anti- 
quarians, etc.,  after  an  Alphabetical  order,  the  whole 
being  the  most  complete  body  of  History  and  Philos- 
ophy ever  yet  published  since  the  Creation;  containing 
among  many  thousand  other  things,  such  as  the  follow- 
ing: 

The  first  number  of  the  Universal  Instructor  in  all 
Arts  and  Sciences  was  published  Dec.  24th,  1728.  In 
this  Keimer  naively  says:  "We  have  little  news  of  con- 
sequence at  present,  the  English  Prints  being  generally 

27 


stufft  with  robberies,  cheats,  fires,  murders,  bank- 
ruptcies, promotions  of  some,  and  hanging  of  others; 
nor  can  we  expect  much  better  until  vessels  arrive  in 
the  Spring,  when  we  hope  to  inform  our  readers  what 
has  been  doing  in  the  Court  and  Cabinet,  in  the  Parlia- 
ment House  as  well  as  in  the  Sessions  as  Dr.  Wild 
wittily  expressed  it  of  the  European,  viz: 

We  are  all  seized  with  the  Athenian  Itch, 

News  and  New  Things  do  the  Whole  World  bewitch. 

In  the  meantime  we  hope  our  readers  will  be  con- 
tent for  the  present  with  what  we  can  give  'em,  which 
if  it  does  'em  no  good,  shall  do  'em  no  hurt.  Tis  the 
best  we  have,  and  so  take  it." 

Such  drivel  alone  it  would  seem  would  have  been 
sufficient  to  kill  the  enterprise.  Add  to  this  the  fact 
that  Franklin,  incensed  at  Keimer's  piracy  of  his  idea, 
turned  a  very  clever  trick  by  editing  a  live  and  really 
interesting  department  in  Bradford's  "Mercury."  "By 
this  means  the  attention  of  the  Publick  was  fixed  on 
that  paper,  and  Keimer's  proposals,  which  were  bur- 
lesqued and  ridiculed,  were  disregarded."  "He  began 
his  paper,  however,"  says  Franklin,  "and  after  carrying 
it  on  three  quarters  of  a  year,  with  at  most  only  ninety 
subscribers,  he  offered  it  to  me  for  a  trifle;  and  I,  having 
been  ready  for  some  time  to  go  on  with  it,  took  it  in 
hand  directly;  and  it  proved  in  a  few  years  extremely 
profitable  to  me." 

The  quaint  language  used  by  Keimer  in  announc- 
ing the  failure  of  his  project  is  worth  recording.  He 
says,  in  the  thirty-ninth  number  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
September,  1729,  "It  not  quadrating  with  the  circum- 
stances of  the  printer  hereof,  S.  K.,  to  publish  this 
Gazette  any  longer,  he  gives  notice  that  this  paper  con- 
cludes his  third  quarter;  and  is  the  last  that  will  be 
printed  by  him.  Yet  that  his  generous  subscribers  may 
not  be  baulked  or  disappointed,  he  had  agreed  with 
B.  Franklin  and  H.  Meredith,  at  the  new  printing 
office  to  continue  it  to  the  end  of  the  year,  and  probably 
if  further  encouragement  appears  it  will  be  continued 
28 


longer.  The  said  S.  K.  designs  to  leave  this  province 
early  in  the  Spring  or  sooner,  if  possible  he  can  justly 
accommodate  his  affairs  with  everyone  he  stands  in- 
debted." 

The  next  number  of  the  paper,  the  fortieth,  ap- 
peared on  the  second  of  October,  1729,  with  a  new  dress 
of  type,  and  with  the  abbrievated  title:  The  Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette.  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia  went  into 
the  discard  and  its  place  was  taken  with  real  news  of 
the  day  and  the  delightful  and  entertaining  discourses 
and  letters,  etc.,  of  Franklin  himself. 

As  published  by  Franklin  the  Gazette  is  a  well  printed 
sheet,  being  set  in  large  clear  type,  and  showing  through- 
out the  touch  of  a  master  hand.  Bound  volumes  in  the 
library  of  the  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society  are  in  an 
excellent  state  of  preservation,  showing  that  the  paper 
used  was  of  an  enduring  character.  The  early  volumes 
are  four  pages  in  size,  the  pages  measuring  y%  x  11^ 
inches.  The  imprint  at  the  bottom  of  the  fourth  page 
reads:  "Philadelphia:  Printed  by  B.  Franklin  and  H. 
Meredith  at  the  New  Printing  Office  near  the  Market, 
where  advertisements  are  taken  in  and  all  persons  may 
be  supplied,  with  this  paper  at  Ten  Shillings  a  year." 

Early  numbers  of  the  Gazette  printed  by  Franklin 
contained  such  advertisements  as  the  following: 

French  is  taught  at  Mr.  Cunningham's,  a  Barber,  next  door  to 
Mrs.  Rogers  in  Market  Street,  by  Daniel  Duborn. 

A  likely  negro  woman  to  be  sold:  She  can  wash  and  iron  very 
well,  and  do  house-work. 

Nor  does  the  printer  neglect  to  advertise  his  own  wares: 

Good  writing  parchment  sold  by  the  printer  hereof,  very  reasonable. 

Likewise: 

Good  Live  Geese  Feathers,  sold  at  the  Printers'  hereof. 

Let  it  be  noted  in  passing  that  Samuel  Keimer 
shortly  after  selling  the  Gazette  carried  out  his  purpose 
to  desert  Philadelphia  for  the  Barbadoes.  His  devious 
ways  had  brought  him  low.  As  he  himself  described 
his  plight  he  had  had  the  misfortune,  "to  be  three  times 

29 


ruined  as  a  master  printer,  to  be  nine  times  in  prison, 
and  often  reduced  to  the  most  wretched  circum- 
stances," besides  being  "hunted  as  a  partridge  on  the 
mountains." 

The  Pennsylvania  Gazette  proved  an  invaluable  ac- 
quisition to  the  "New  Printing  Office,"  and  its  editor 
and  chief  publisher  saw  to  it  that  its  usefulness  did  not 
slacken. 

Speaking  of  the  early  numbers  Franklin  says, 
"some  spirited  remarks  of  my  writing,  on  the  dispute 
then  going  on  between  Governor  Burnet  and  the 
Massachusetts  Assembly,  struck  the  principal  people, 
occasioned  the  paper  and  the  manager  of  it  to  be  much 
talked  of,  and  in  a  few  weeks  brought  them  all  to  be  our 
subscribers. 

"Their  example  was  followed  by  many,  and  our 
number  went  on  growing  continually.  This  was  one  of 
the  first  good  effects  of  my  having  learnt  a  little  to 
scribble;  another  was,  that  the  leading  men,  seeing  a 
newspaper  now  in  the  hands  of  one  who  could  also 
handle  a  pen,  thought  it  convenient  to  oblige  and  en- 
courage me.  Bradford  still  printed  the  votes  and  laws, 
and  other  publick  business.  He  had  printed  an  address 
of  the  House  to  the  Governor,  in  a  coarse  blundering 
manner;  we  reprinted  it  elegantly  and  correctly,  and 
sent  one  to  every  member.  They  were  sensible  of  the 
difference;  it  strengthened  the  hands  of  our  friends  in 
the  House,  and  they  voted  us  their  printer  for  the  year 
ensuing. 

"But  a  serious  difficulty  now  began  to  threaten. 
Meredith's  father  who  had  agreed  to  finance  the  new 
company,  found  himself,  after  paying  one  hundred 
pounds  currency,  unable  to  advance  the  balance,  a 
matter  of  another  hundred  pounds.  So  the  merchant 
through  whom  the  equipment  for  the  plant  had  been 
purchased,  becoming  impatient  brought  suit  and  sued 
us  all.  We  gave  bail,  but  saw  that,  if  the  money  could 
not  be  raised  in  time  the  suit  must  soon  come  to  a 
judgment   and   execution,   and  our  hopeful  prospects 

30 


must,  with  us,  be  ruined,  as  the  press  and  letters  must 
be  sold  for  payment,  perhaps  at  half  price," 

Furthermore  his  partner  Meredith  was  doing  badly, 
having  gone  back  to  those  old  habits  from  which  Frank- 
lin had  once  rescued  him.  He  was  becoming  known  as 
a  town  character  of  ill  repute  and  seldom  sober.  He 
had  failed  to  improve  his  skill  as  a  workm.an,  remaining 
a  poor  penman  besides  being  no  compositor.  Most  of 
the  work  and  the  entire  management  of  their  business 
rested  upon  Franklin,  who  nevertheless  out  of  gratitude 
to  the  Merediths  had  continued  to  bear  the  double 
burden  cheerfullv. 


31 


CHAPTER  IV 

Friends  in  Need 

WITH  the  Impending  financial  crisis  hovering 
over  Franklin  we  are  to  find  once  more  his  good 
genius  caring  for  him. 
Of  this  time  he  says:  "In  this  distress  two  true 
friends,  whose  kindness  I  have  never  forgotten,  nor  ever 
shall  forget  while  I  can  remember  anything,  came  to  me 
separately,  unknown  to  each  other,  and  without  any  ap- 
plication from  me,  offering  each  of  them  to  advance  me 
all  the  money  that  should  be  necessary  to  enable  me  to 
take  the  whole  business  upon  myself,  if  that  should  be 
practicable;  but  they  did  not  like  my  continuing  the 
partnership  with  Meredith,  who,  as  they  said,  was  often 
seen  drunk  in  the  streets,  and  playing  at  low  games  in 
alehouses,  much  to  our  discredit.  These  two  friends  were 
William  Coleman  and  Robert  Grace  (both  were  members 
of  the  Junto).  I  told  them  I  could  not  propose  a  separation 
while  any  prospect  remained  of  the  Merediths  fulfilling 
their  part  of  our  agreement,  because  I  thought  myself 
under  great  obligations  to  them  for  what  they  had  done, 
and  would  do  If  they  could;  but.  If  they  finally  failed  in 
their  performance,  and  our  partnership  must  be  dis- 
solved, I  should  then  think  myself  at  liberty  to  accept 
the  assistance  of  my  friends. 

"Thus  the  matter  rested  for  some  time,  when  I 
said  to  my  partner,  'Perhaps  your  father  Is  dissatisfied 
at  the  part  you  have  undertaken  In  this  aft'air  of  ours, 
and  is  unwilling  to  advance  for  you  and  me  what  he 
would  for  you  alone.  If  that  is  the  case  tell  me,  and  I 
will  resign  the  whole  to  you,  and  go  about  my  business.' 
'No,'  said  he,  'my  father  has  really  been  disappointed, 
and  is  really  unable,  and  I  am  unwilling  to  distress  him 
farther.  I  see  this  is  a  business  I  am  not  fit  for.  I  was 
bred  a  farmer,  and  it  was  a  folly  in  me  to  come  to  town, 
and  put  myself  at  thirty  years  of  age,  an  apprentice  to 
learn  a  new  trade.  Many  of  our  Welsh  people  are  go- 
ing to  settle  In  North  Carolina,  where  land  Is  cheap.     I 

33 


am  inclined  to  go  with  them,  and  follow  my  old  em- 
ployment. You  may  find  friends  to  assist  you.  If 
you  will  take  the  debts  of  the  Company  upon  you;  re- 
turn to  my  father  the  hundred  pounds  he  has  advanced, 
pay  my  little  personal  debts,  and  give  me  thirty  pounds 
and  a  new  saddle,  I  will  relinquish  the  partnership,  and 
leave  the  whole  in  your  hands.'  I  agreed  to  this  pro- 
posal; it  was  drawn  up  in  writing,  signed,  and  sealed 
immediately.  I  gave  him  what  he  demanded,  and  he 
Vv'ent  soon  after  to  Carolina,  from  whence  he  sent  me 
next  year  two  long  letters,  containing  the  best  account 
that  had  been  given  of  that  Country,  the  climate,  the 
soil,  husbandry,  etc.,  for  in  those  matters  he  was  very 
judicious.  I  printed  them  in  the  papers  and  they  gave 
great  satisfaction  to  the  publick. 

"As  soon  as  he  was  gone,  I  recurred  to  my  two 
friends,  and  because  I  would  not  give  an  unkind  pref- 
erence to  either,  I  took  half  of  what  each  had  offered 
and  I  wanted,  of  one,  and  half  of  the  other;  paid  off  the 
company's  debts,  and  went  on  with  the  business  in  my 
own  name,  advertising  that  the  partnership  was  dis- 
solved." 

The  date  of  dissolution  of  this  partnership  between 
Franklin  and  Meredith  was  July  14th,  1730. 

From  this  time  forward  Franklin  appears  to  have 
prospered.  His  business  grew,  his  friends  increased  in 
number  and  the  Gazette  became  more  and  more  a  power 
in  the  Province;  indeed  in  time  it  came  to  have  the 
largest  circulation  of  any  paper  in  all  the  Colonies. 
Some  difficulty  Franklin  did  expereince  in  getting  the 
Gazette  distributed  outside  of  Philadelphia.  The  reason 
for  this  was  that  Andrew  Bradford  of  "The  Sign  of  the 
Bible,"  a  publisher  of  the  "Mercury"  the  rival  sheet, 
was  also  post-master  and  used  his  power  to  create  a 
monoply.  His  riders  were  strictly  forbidden  to  carry 
the  Gazette  when  delivering  the  mails.  Some  few  how- 
ever Franklin  did  manage  to  get  through  surreptitiously. 
Of  Bradford's  narrow  policy  in  this  instance  Franklin 
complained  as  follows:  "I  thought  so  meanly  of  him 

34 


for  It,  that,  when  I  afterward  came  Into  his  situation  as 
Post-master  I  took  care  never  to  Imitate  It." 

It  should  be  noted  that  an  attempt  was  made  by 
Franklin  to  pubHsh  the  Gazette  twice  a  week.  In  fact  a 
few  numbers  were  Issued  semlweekly,  but  deliveries 
were  bad,  and  the  plan  generally  proving  Impractical,  It 
was  discontinued.  The  Gazette  was  the  first  newspaper 
in  America  to  be  published  twice  In  the  same  week. 

For  his  time  the  products  of  Franklin's  press  were 
remarkably  varied.  Not  a  single  avenue  for  new  busi- 
ness escaped  him.  His  genial  temperament,  his  facile 
pen,  his  keen  business  sense,  his  foresight  and  Interest 
in  public  men  and  aifairs,  his  love  of  books  of  science, 
of  wit  and  of  everything  worth  while  In  the  life  of  his 
day,  was  turned  to  account  to  the  building  of  such  a  bus- 
iness of  which  anyone  might  well  be  proud.  Branching 
out  into  the  realms  of  finance  In  the  early  days  of  his  bus- 
iness he  wrote  an  anonymous  pamphlet  which  he  called 
"The  Nature  and  Necessity  of  a  Paper  Currency."  This 
he  prepared,  because  as  he  says  at  that  time  there  were 
only  15,000  pounds  in  paper  money  in  Pennsylvania. 
This  pamphlet  "was  well  received  by  the  common 
people  In  general  and  the  point  was  carried  by  a  ma- 
jority in  the  House.  My  friends  there,  who  conceived 
I  had  been  of  some  service,  thought  fit  to  reward  me  by 
employing  me  in  printing  the  money;  a  very  profitable 
job  and  a  great  help  to  me.  This  was  another  advan- 
tage gained  by  my  being  able  to  write." 

This  job  gave  him  some  fame  for  he  says,  "I  soon 
after  obtained  through  my  friend  Hamilton,  the  print- 
ing of  the  Newcastle  paper  money,  another  profitable 
job  as  I  then  thought  It;  small  things  appearing  great 
to  those  In  small  circumstances;  and  these  to  me  were 
really  great  advantages,  as  they  were  great  encourage- 
ments. He  procured  for  me,  also,  the  printing  of  the 
laws  and  votes  of  that  government,  which  continued  In 
my  hands  as  long  as  I  follow'd  the  business."  The 
public  printing  of  New  Jersey  also  came  to  him  in 
similar  manner. 

35 


I 


CHAPTER  V 

A  Period  of  Expansion 

T  was  about  this  time  that  Franklin  added  to  his 
printing  business  a  stationer's  shop,  in  which  he  kept 
"  blanks  of  all  sorts,  the  correctest  that  ever  appear'd 
among  us,  being  assisted  in  that  by  my  friend  Breintnal. 
I  had  also  paper,  parchment,  books,  etc."  His  keen- 
I  ness  to  give  the  "publick"  just  what  they  wanted  in  his 
stationer}/"  shop  is  shown  well  combined  with  his  sense 
of  humor  in  the  following  as  recorded  in  Isaiah  Thomas's 
"History  of  Printing*." 

Bills  of  lading  formerly  began  with,  "shipped  by 
the  Grace  of  God,"  etc.  Some  people  of  Philadelphia 
objected  to  this  phraseology  as  making  light  of  serious 
things.  Franklin  therefore  printed  some  without  these 
words  and  inserted  in  his  paper  the  following  advertise- 
ment: "Bills  of  lading  for  sale  at  this  office,  with  or 
without  the  Grace  of  God." 

Even  with  the  stationery  department  his  place  of 
business  at  the  beginning  was  not  crowded,  for  one  side 
of  the  shop  he  says  was  used  by  Godfrey  for  his  glazier's 
business.  This  was  Godfrey  who  with  his  family  had 
been  taken  in  to  occupy  the  house  and  with  whom 
Franklin  boarded.  This  arrangement  lasted  for  some 
time  but  was  at  last  broken,  through  the  inability  of 
Franklin  and  Mrs.  Godfrey,  who  had  constituted  her- 
self a  matchmaker,  to  agree  on  certain  terms  of  settle- 
ment which  Franklin  proposed  as  his  ultimatum  for  the 
marriage  which  Mrs.  Godfrey  had  hoped  to  see  con- 
summated with  the  daughter  of  one  of  her  relatives. 
Franklin's  attitude  being  resented,  the  Godfreys  re- 
moved, leaving  him  the  whole  house.  But  this  incident 
turned  his  thoughts  more  seriously  to  marriage,  with 

*Isaiah  Thomas,  from  whose  History  of  Printing  some  of  the  facts  in  this 
book  are  drawn,  was  another  self-made  printer.  He  was  born  in  1749  and  died 
in  183 1.  With  only  six  weeks'  schooling,  he  made  himself  a  notable  figure  in 
printing  and  publishing  circles  of  his  time,  and  in  the  literary  life  of  the  nation. 
Most  of  his  life  work  was  laid  in  Worcester,  Mass.  His  "History  of  Printing," 
published  in  1 8 10,  has  always  been  recognized  for  its  general  accuracy  by  historians. 

2>7 


the  result  that  on  the  first  of  September,  1730,  he 
married  his  old  fiame,  Deborah  Read.  "She  proved  a 
good  and  faithful  helpmate,  assisted  me  much  attending 
shop;  we  strove  together,  and  have  ever  mutually  en- 
deavor'd  to  make  each  other  happy." 

Previous  to  his  marriage  he  had  begun  gradually 
to  pay  off  the  debt  he  "was  under  for  the  printing 
house."  "In  order  to  secure  my  credit  and  character 
as  a  tradesman,  I  took  care  not  only  to  be  in  reality  in- 
dustrious and  frugal,  but  to  avoid  all  appearances  to  the 
contrary.  I  drest  plainly;  I  was  seen  at  no  places  of 
idle  diversion.  I  never  went  out  a  fishing  or  shooting; 
a  book,  indeed,  sometimes  debauched  me  from  my 
work,  but  that  was  seldom,  snug,  and  gave  no  scandal; 
and  to  show  that  I  was  not  above  my  business,  I  some- 
times brought  home  a  paper  I  purchas'd  at  the  stores 
thro'  the  streets  on  a  wheelbarrow.  Thus  being  es- 
teem'd  an  industrious  thriving  young  man,  and  paying 
duly  for  what  I  bought,  the  merchants  who  imported 
stationery  solicited  my  custom;  others  proposed  sup- 
plying me  with  books,  and  I  went  on  swimmingly." 

Keimer  in  the  meanwhile  had  gone  to  Barbadoes 
and  had  been  succeeded  in  Philadelphia  by  his  appren- 
tice David  Harry:  of  the  latter  Franklin  says  "I  was  at 
first  apprehensive  of  a  powerful  rival — as  his  friends 
were  very  able,  and  had  a  good  deal  of  interest.  I 
therefore  propos'd  a  partnership  to  him,  which  he, 
fortunately  for  me,  rejected  with  scorn."  Harry's 
pride,  expensive  habits,  and  neglect  of  business  were 
his  undoing,  and  Franklin  is  soon  able  to  announce 
"There  remained  now  no  competitor  with  me  at  Phila- 
delphia but  the  old  one  Bradford." 


38 


CHAPTER  VI 

'Toor  Richard" 

UNDOUBTEDLY  the  most  important  and  influ- 
ential product  of  Franklin's  press  was  his"  Poor 
Richard  Almanack."  In  those  days  there  were 
no  magazines,  and  in  all  the  American  Colonies  only 
three  newspapers.  A  newspaper,  too,  was  regarded  as  a 
luxury,  even  though  it  came  but  once  a  week,  and  com- 
paratively few  of  the  colonists  were  subscribers.  Yet 
even  in  the  remote  hamlets,  and  on  the  farms  farthest 
back  in  the  country  an  almanac  could  be  found  hanging 
by  almost  every  fireside  throughout  the  year.  There 
were  several  of  these  Almanacs  before  Franklin's  day, 
serving  their  purpose  as  guides  to  the  days  of  the  week 
and  month,  showing  the  eclipses,  the  new  moon,  the  full 
moon,  etc.,  and  predicting  unblushingly  all  kinds  of 
weather,  but  more  than  all  else  giving  their  readers 
mental  nourishment  and  entertainment  in  short  articles 
and  extracts,  some  original,  and  others  culled  from  here 
and  there.  In  many  households  there  was  virtually  no 
other  reading  matter. 

Realizing  the  profit  that  lay  in  this  field  and 
probably  knowing  he  could  outdo  the  other  almanac 
makers  of  his  period  Franklin  prepared  and  issued  the 
first  number  of  his  "Almanack"  in  1732.  This  he  made 
to  appear  as  having  been  written  and  compiled  by  a 
Richard  Saunders,  but  "printed  and  sold  by  B.  Frank- 
lin, at  the  New  Printing  Office  near  the  Market." 

The  "Poor  Richard  Almanack"  marked  the  high 
tide  in  almanac  making.  It  marked  also  an  epoch  in 
American  literature;  it  was  the  first  bit  of  real  literary 
humor  of  any  consequence  to  be  published  this  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  It  was  continued  by  Franklin  for  twenty- 
five  years.  He  says  "I  endeavor'd  to  make  it  both  en- 
tertaining and  useful,  and  it  accordingly  came  to  be  in 
such  demand  that  I  reap'd  considerable  profit  from  it, 
vending  annually  near  ten  thousand."  A  glimpse  at 
the  pages  reproduced  in  this  book  will  give  one,  even  at 

39 


this  late  day  an  early  understanding  of  the  popularity 
enjoyed  by  "Poor  Richard." 

In  the  meantime  Franklin's  business  grew  apace. 
With  the  advancing  years  his  prosperity  became  more 
and  more  marked.  Before  he  was  forty  his  was  the 
leading  printing  plant  in  the  Colonies.  He  was  more 
widely  patronized  than  any  other  printer  in  America. 
Almost  all  the  important  printing  in  the  middle  Colonies 
came  to  him,  and  indeed  he  had  a  large  share  of  that  in 
the  Southern  Colonies  also. 

In  the  year  1744  there  came  to  Philadelphia  from 
London,  a  young  printer  by  the  name  of  David  Hall. 
He  had  been  highly  recommended  to  Franklin  by  his 
friend  Wm.  Strahan,  a  Londoner,  and  Franklin  had 
promised  to  befriend  him  to  the  best  of  his  ability. 
Accordingly  as  soon  as  he  landed  Hall  was  taken  in 
charge  by  Franklin  and  given  employment  in  his  shop. 
That  he  was  not  disappointed  is  clearly  shown  in  a 
letter  written  by  Franklin  to  Strahan  February  12th, 
1744.  In  this  Franklin  says:  "I  have  no  doubt  but 
Mr.  Hall  will  succeed  well  in  what  he  undertakes.  He 
is  obliging,  discreet,  industrious,  and  honest,  and  when 
those  Qualities  meet,  things  seldom  go  amiss.  Nothing 
in  my  power  will  be  wanting  to  serve  him." 

So  well  indeed  did  Hall  succeed  that  in  four  years 
time  he  was  admitted  to  partnership  with  Franklin,  on  a 
basis  that  proved  highly  satisfactory  to  both.  This  was  in 
January  of  1748.  Franklin  was  then  forty-two  years  old, 
and  had  been  in  business  for  himself  only  twenty  years. 

By  the  terms  of  the  agreement  Hall  was  to  pay  to 
Franklin  each  year  for  a  period  of  eighteen  years  regu- 
larly a  sum  of  iooo£  (approximately  ^2660.  annually). 
Franklin  now  relinquished  all  his  active  interest  in  the 
concern  and  turned  his  attention  henceforth  chiefly  to 
science,  statesmanship,  and  letters.  Of  Hall  he  records 
that:  "He  took  off  my  hands  all  care  of  the  printing 
office,  paying  me  punctually  my  share  of  the  profits. 
This  partnership  continued  eighteen  years,  successfully 
for  us  both." 

40 


It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  printing  industry  con- 
tinued to  lie  very  close  to  Franklin's  heart  throughout 
a  very  long  life,  though  he  relinquished  all  personal 
activity  in  this  line  at  the  early  age  of  forty-two. 

Isaiah  Thomas  in  his  "History  of  Printing,"  bears 
this  testimony:  "The  following  will  show  that  Franklin 
retained  a  regard  for  the  trade  until  the  close  of  his  life. 
In  1788,  about  two  years  before  his  death,  a  number  of 
printers  and  booksellers  met  together  in  Philadelphia, 
to  form  some  regulations  for  the  benefit  of  the  trade.* 
Bache,  grandson  of  Franklin  and  myself  were  of  the 
number.  After  the  first  meeting,  I  conversed  with  Dr. 
Franklin  on  the  subject  of  our  convention.  He  ap- 
proved the  measures  proposed,  and  requested  that  the 
next  meeting  might  be  at  his  house,  as  he  was  unable 
himself  to  go  abroad.  The  meeting  was  accordingly 
holden  there;  and  although  he  was  much  afflicted  with 
pain,  he  voluntarily  took  minutes  of  the  proceedings 
and  appeared  to  be  interested  in  them." 

The  following  epitaph  written  by  Franklin  long 
before  his  death  has  frequently  been  quoted  as  charac- 
teristic of  the  man.  It  shows  in  a  beautiful  light  his 
love  and  reverence  for  the  art  which  he  had  made  his 
own: — 

THE  BODY  OF 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  PRINTER. 

(LIKE  THE  COVER  OF  AN  OLD  BOOK; 

ITS  CONTENTS  WORN  OUT, 

AND  STRIPT  OF  ITS  LETTERING  AND  GILDING) 

LIES  HERE,  FOOD  FOR  WORMS. 

YET  THE  WORK  ITSELF  SHALL  NOT  BE  LOST, 

FOR  IT  WILL,  AS  HE  BELIEVED,  APPEAR  ONCE  MORE 

IN  A  NEW 

AND  MORE  BEAUTIFUL  EDITION 

C0RR::CTED  AND  AMENDED 

BY  ITS  AUTHOR. 


*Thomas  adds,  "several  attempts  have  been  made  to  establish  rules  and  regu- 
lations for  the  benefit  of  the  trade,  but  they  have  generally  not  proved  successful." 

41 


When  writing  his  will  he  begins  with  these  impres- 
sive words:  "I,  Benjamin  Franklin,  Printer,  late  Min- 
ister Plenipotentiary  from  the  United  States  of  America 
to  the  Court  of  France,  and  now  President  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania." 

Years  before  he  had  relinquished  all  active  associa- 
tions in  the  printing  business,  but  yet  when  in  the 
twilight  of  his  life  he  comes  to  write  his  will  he  still 
remains  above  all  else  "Benjamin  Franklin,  Printer^ 


42 


CHAPTER  VII 

Following  the  Founder 

FRANKLIN  undoubtedly  shone  as  a  bright  light  in 
virtually  every  field  of  endeavor  upon  which  he 
entered.  Yet  in  none  was  his  success  more  marked 
than  in  the  field  of  printing.  His  achievements  in  the 
craft  have  been  a  stimulus  to  many.  Few  have  reached 
the  goal  which  he  attained,  but  all  who  have  followed 
his  example,  his  precepts  and  his  practices  have  been 
the  better  for  it.  Were  every  printer  to  read  and  study 
the  life  of  his  patron  and  faithfully  to  put  in  practice 
Franklin's  miethods  of  foresight,  industry,  integrity, 
geniality  and  interest  in  men  and  things  of  their  time, 
the  craft  would  attain  a  level  now  only  dreamed  of. 

Of  Franklin's  partner  and  immediate  successor, 
David  Hall,  Isaiah  Thomas  the  historian  says:  "Had 
he  not  been  connected  with  Franklin  he  might  have  been 
a  formidable  rival  to  him  in  the  business  of  printing  and 
bookselling.  Hall  was  well  acquainted  with  the  art  of 
printing  and  was  an  industrious  workman,  of  first  rate 
abilities;  a  prudent  and  impartial  conductor  of  the 
Gazette,  and  a  benevolent  and  worthy  man."  The 
surmise  indulged  in  by  Thomas  that  Hall  might  have 
been  a  formidable  rival  is  wide  of  the  mark,  since  it  was 
through  the  friendly  offices  of  Franklin  that  Hall  came 
to  America  and  was  so  promptly  settled  here  in  an  ad- 
vantageous position. 

David  Hall  was  born  in  Scotland  in  the  year  1714, 
and  was  reared  as  a  printer  in  Edinburgh.  From 
Edinburgh  he  went  to  London,  where  he  obtained  a 
position  in  the  same  printing  house  in  which  was  also 
employed  at  that  time  as  a  journeyman,  \Vm.  Strahan, 
a  long  time  friend  of  Franklin,  and  in  later  years  a 
famous  law  printer  to  the  King.  The  fact  that  Hall 
attracted  the  attention  and  secured  the  friendship  of 
so  able  a  man  as  Strahan  in  itself  foretold  for  him  a 
brilliant  future.  Hall  was  thirty  years  of  age  when  he 
entered  Franklin's  employ  in  1744.     He  was  a  mature 

43 


man  of  thirty-four  when  in  1748  he  took  over  the  entire 
charge  of  the  business. 

Isaiah  Thomas  says  of  this  period:  ''At  that  time 
the  Gazette  had  an  extensive  circulation  in  Pennsylvania 
and  in  the  neighboring  Colonies,  and  the  business  of  the 
printing  house  was  very  lucrative." 

Scarcely  three  months  elapsed  after  the  termina- 
tion of  the  partnership  of  Benjamin  Franklin  and 
David  Hall  when  the  latter  formed  a  partnership  with 
William  Sellers.  This  was  effected  in  May  of  1766, 
and  the  firm  became  known  as  Hall  and  Sellers. 

William  Sellers  had  served  his  apprenticeship  in 
London  and  had  come  to  America  some  years  before. 
Isaiah  Thomas  says  of  him,  "He  began  business  about 
1764  and  kept  a  book  and  stationery  store  in  Arch 
Street  between  Second  and  Third, — Sellers  was  a  cor- 
rect and  experienced  printer,  a  good  citizen,  well  known 
and  as  well  respected." 

The  partnership  of  David  Hall  and  William  Sellers 
continued  until  the  death  of  Hall  on  the  twenty-fourth 
of  December  1772,  having  lasted  but  six  years.  These 
two  men  were  admittedly  masters  of  their  craft.  Their 
business  flourished  and  the  Gazette  maintained  its 
supremacy. 

David  Hall  was  succeeded  by  his  two  sons  William 
Hall  and  David  Hall,  Jr.,  the  firm  name  remaining  as 
Hall  and  Sellers.  William  Sellers  maintained  his  in- 
terest actively  until  his  death  in  February  of  1804  at 
the  age  of  seventy-nine  years. 

Scharf  &  Westcott  in  their  History  of  Philadelphia 
note  the  fact  that  "The  Pennsylvania  Gazette  con- 
tinued its  issues  regularly  under  these  proprietors  until 
a  short  time  before  the  occupation  of  Philadelphia  by 
the  British.  The  last  number  of  this  paper  published 
before  the  capture  of  the  City  was  dated  September 
loth,  1777  and  was  numbered  2533.  During  the 
occupancy  and  for  some  months  afterward  the  pub- 
lication of  the  paper  was  suspended.  No.  2534  was 
published    at    Philadelphia    on    January    5th,    1779, 

44 


and  from  that  time  the  publication  went  forward 
regularly." 

The  business  was  still  conducted  at  51  High  Street 
(now  135  Market  Street)  in  the  same  place  where  years 
before  Franklin  and  Meredith  had  joined  forces. 

With  the  growth  of  the  city  had  come  keener  com- 
petition until  toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
during  the  period  of  the  partnership  of  William  Sellers 
with  the  two  younger  Halls,  there  were,  according  to 
Scharf  and  Westcott,  "in  the  city  and  suburbs  of  Phila- 
delphia thirty-one  printing  presses,  printing  four  daily 
and  two  semi-weekly  papers,  one  of  them  in  the  French 
language,  and  two  weekly  journals  one  of  them  in  the 
German  language."  But  the  firm  of  Hall  and  Sellers 
was  built  on  a  solid  foundation  and  they  easily  held 
their  own,  much  of  the  best  printing  of  the  time  emanat- 
ing from  their  press. 

After  the  death  of  William  Sellers  in  1804  the  busi- 
ness was  managed  in  the  names  of  William  and  David 
Hall,  but  was  later  transferred  to  William  Hall,  Jr. 
About  the  year  18 10  William  Hall,  Jr.  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Geo,  W.  Plerie  and  the  firm  became  Hall  and 
Plerie.  The  printing  industry  in  Philadelphia  had 
grown  to  such  an  extent  that  there  were  now  in  the  city 
hfty-one  printing  offices  and  a  total  of  153  presses. 
There  were  also  at  this  time  about  sixty  engravers  en- 
gaged there,  thus  showing  that  the  art  of  illustrating 
was  fast  taking  a  recognized  place  in  works  of  printing. 

About  the  year  1815  or  1816  the  firm  of  Hall  and 
Plerie  was  dissolved,  Geo.  W.  Plerie  dropping  out  and 
giving  place  to  Samuel  C.  Atkinson.  The  business  was 
thus  conducted  as  Hall  and  Atkinson  until  the  death  of 
Hall  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  May,  1821. 

In  the  same  year  that  Hall  died,  1821,  Samuel  C. 
Atkinson  took  Into  partnership  Charles  Alexander,  and 
the  business  was  conducted  as  Atkinson  &  Alexander. 


45 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A  New  Era  in  Journalism 

THE  year  1821  marked  another  era  in  American 
journalism,  for  "Atkinson  and  Alexander  at  once 
determined  upon  a  revolution  in  the  character  of 
the  paper  and  the  partners  proceeded  to  build  up  a  new 
business  on  the  venerable  foundation  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Gazette.  They  at  once  issued  proposals  for  the  publica- 
tion of  a  new  weekly  paper,  to  which  they  gave  the 
name  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post.  The  first  number 
was  issued  August  4,  1821.  It  was  published  at  the 
price  of  ^2.00  a  year,  payable  half  yearly  in  advance,  or 
$3.00  a  year  if  not  paid  until  the  end  of  the  year.  The 
proprietors  were  young  men  and  were  ambitious. 
They  endeavored  to  make  their  paper  of  interest  to  all 
classes,  encouraged  rising  genius,  which  hurried  to  see 
itself  in  print  in  the  'Poets  Corner,'  or  in  the  story  col- 
lumns,  gave  some  attention  to  news,  foreign,  as  well  as 
domestic,  and  eschewed  all  politics.  It  was  a  paper  for 
the  family  and  although  some  particular  attention  was 
paid  to  local  matters,  there  was  sufficient  variety  of 
general  intelligence  to  interest  persons  not  resident  in 
Philadelphia.  Thus  by  judicious  attention  to  business 
i  the  paper  became  popular,  and  gained  a  large  circula- 
tion, so  that  there  was  in  time  no  part  of  the  United 
States  into  which  the  Post  did  not  penetrate."  In  its 
first  days  the  editor  of  the  Post  was  Thomas  Cottrell 
]  Clarke. 

In  1827  the  firm  of  Atkinson  and  Alexander  moved 

I  their  plant  from  Market  St.  (or  High  St.)  to  112  Chest- 

f  nut    Street    between    Third    and    Fourth.     Thus    for 

I  ninety-nine  years  the  business  founded  by  Benjamin 

j  Franklin  had  remained  in  one  locality.     It  had  grown 

up  with  the  city,  had  seen  the  population  creep  from 

approximately  12,000  in  1728  to  80,458  in  1827,  (census 

of  1830)  had  kept  in  line  with  the  growing  industries  of 

the  Country,  had  met  the  new  requirements  put  upon  it 

from  year  to  year,  and  finally  with  the  shifting  of  centers 

47 


of  trade  it  was  moved  to  a  locality  better  suited  to  its 
purposes  in  that  advanced  age. 

Speaking  of  the  plant  in  1821,  about  the  time  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  Scharf  & 
Westcott  say:  "This  paper  even  so  late  as  1821  was 
worked  off  with  the  laborious  manipulation  of  wrist 
dislocating  ink-balls,  and  a  clumsy  beating  of  forms 
that  can  hardly  be  realized  by  the  skillful  pressman  of 
the  present  day,  while  the  crude  press  of  Patrick  Lyon, 
and  even  the  improved  Columbian  and  Washington, 
taxed  the  Pressman's  strength  from  Friday  noon — 
sometimes  all  night  and  far  into  the  next  day — to  work 
off  what  would  now  be  a  very  moderate  edition.  While 
the  advent  of  the  new  paper  required  a  supply  of  new 
type,  the  old  stock  was  not  melted  up,  but  what  was 
then  looked  upon  as  the  Old  Franklin  type  was  care- 
fully preserved.  One  use  and  perhaps  the  latest  to 
which  it  was  put,  was  in  the  hands  of  a  reverend  com- 
positor, who  set  up  his  own  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  proofs  being  taken  on  the  old  Franklin 
Press.  This  was  the  reverend  Dr.  Abner  Knelland,  a 
Universalist  Theologian,  an  able  and  popular  preacher 
in  that  day." 

In  1828  Samuel  C.  Atkinson  became  sole  pro- 
prietor. The  business  was  now  located  at  112  Chest- 
nut Street,  In  1833  it  was  moved  to  36  Carter's  Alley, 
where  it  remained  until  1840  when  it  was  again  moved 
to  the  second  floor  of  the  Old  Ledger  Building  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  Third  and  Chestnut  Sts.  Just 
prior  to  this  last  removal,  Samuel  C.  Atkinson  had  sold 
the  business  in  November  of  1839  to  John  S.  DuSoUe 
and  George  R.  Graham.  DuSoUe  remained,  how- 
ever, only  a  few  months,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Charles  J.  Peterson,  the  firm  name  being  George  R. 
Graham  &  Co.  In  1843  George  R.  Graham  and 
Charles  J.  Peterson  sold  the  business  to  Samuel  D. 
Patterson  &  Co.  Five  years  later,  in  March  of 
1848  Samuel  D.  Patterson  &  Co.,  disposed  of  the 
establishment  to  Edmund  Deacon  and  Henry  Peterson, 
48 


each  of  whom  had  previously  held  an  Interest  in  the 
business. 

Under  the  firm  name  of  Deacon  &  Peterson  the 
business  flourished.  The  Saturday  Evening  Post  be- 
came an  extremely  profitable  enterprise,  and  the  job 
and  book  printing  departments  were  by  no  means  neg- 
lected. 

The  plant  was  moved  in  1848  to  No.  66  South 
Third  St.  (old  style  numbering)  into  the  building  adjoin- 
ing the  Girard  Bank  on  the  South  side.  The  office  and 
plant  of  Deacon  &  Peterson  were  located  on  the  second 
floor  directly  over  the  North  American  office. 

John  Callahan,  now  in  his  seventy-seventh  year  is 
probably  the  veteran  of  employing  printers  in  Phila- 
delphia. Today,  Manager  of  the  Franklin  Printing 
Company,  his  business  career  covers  a  continuous 
service  with  the  same  house  extending  over  a  period 
3f  sixty-three  years.  In  1852,  then  a  boy  of  fourteen, 
be  entered  the  employ  of  Deacon  and  Peterson.  Out- 
side the  door  he  had  seen  a  sign  "Boy  wanted,"  and 
though  having  had  previously  only  a  year's  experience 
with,  another  printing  concern  he  felt  qualified  to  meet 
the  requirements  of  Deacon  &  Peterson.  He  was 
Dromptly  given  employment,  and  immediately  went  to 
fcVork  in  the  ware-room,  at  the  very  bottom  of  the 
adder.  In  those  days  the  equipment  consisted  of 
:hree  Adams  presses,  and  three  job  presses.  The 
3lant  managed  as  Mr.  Callahan  says,  "to  turn  out  an 
mmense  amount  of  work."  The  business  end  of  the 
organization  mainly  devolved  upon  Edmund  Deacon, 
tienry  Peterson  edited  the  Saturday  Evening  Post. 

It  has  been  noted  above  that  at  the  outset  the 
*  Saturday  Evening  Post"  eschewed  all  politics.  This 
Droved,  as  a  circulation  getter,  a  most  successful  policy, 
especially  for  those  turbulent  ante-bellum  days  Fully 
)ne  hundred  thousand  copies  of  the  Post  were  dis- 
:ributed  every  week  throughout  the  Union,  many  of 
:hem  going  into  the  Southern  States.  But  there  was 
:rouble  in  store  for  the  "Post."     Henry  Peterson  was 

49 


an  ardent  abolitionist.  With  such  a  mighty  engine  of 
publicity,  the  Post,  in  his  hands,  the  temptation  proved 
too  strong  to  resist.  He  broke  away  from  the  settled 
policy  of  the  past,  and  wrote  and  published  a  violent  ;  1  . 
anti-slavery  article.  The  result  was  effective  and  in-  ,  ^ 
stantaneous.  Hardly  had  the  papers  reached  their  ] 
destination  before  indignant  subscribers  hastened  to 
hurl  them  back  at  the  publishers.  As  Mr.  Callahan  f 
expresses  it  they  came  into  the  ofhce,  often  unopened  | 
"by  baskets  full  and  barrels  full."  The  subscribers,  | 
particularly  those  in  the  South,  would  have  none  of  | 
Peterson's  Politics  and  that  anti-slavery  editorial  | 
sounded  the  doom  of  the  Post  for  many  years.  The  ij 
heyday  of  its  prosperity  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  \ 

Nevertheless  its  publication  was  continued  and 
with  what  was  left  of  the  Post,  combined  with  the  job 
printing  department.  Deacon  &  Peterson  were  fairly 
successful.  The  Post  later  went  into  other  hands.  *In 
the  early  '70's  Henry  Peterson  dropped  out  of  the  firm 
leaving  Edmund  Deacon  sole  owner  of  the  business.  Mr. 
Deacon  died  February  4th,  1877,  and  was  succeeded 
by  his  stepson  E.  Stanley  Hart.  The  firm  name  became 
the  Franklin  Printing  House,  E.  Stanley  Hart  &  Co., 
Proprietors,  and  was  known  by  that  title  until  the 
incorporation,  January  31st,  1889,  of  the  present  com- 
pany. The  Franklin  Printing  Company  was  incor- 
porated under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  to 
take  over  the  printing  and  binding  business  which  has  ^ 
been  conducted  under  the  name  of  the  Franklin  Print-  | 
ing  House. 

E.  Stanley  Hart  was  elected  president  of  the  corpo- 
ration, and  continued  to  fill  that  office  until  1893,  so  that 
the  business  had  remained  in  the  same  family  for  forty- 
five  years.  On  August  17th,  1891,  E.  Lawrence  Fell 
and  Senator  William  C.  Sproul  bought  a  controlling  inter- 
est in  the  Franklin  Printing  Company,  the  former  being 
elected  Treasurer  and  the  latter  Secretary.     In   1893 

*In  1898  The  Saturday  Evening  Post  was  bought  by  the  Curtis  Publishing 
Co.     It  has  since  become  the  greatest  publication  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

50 


Mr.  Fell  succeeded  Mr.  Hart  as  President  of  the  com- 
pany, and  has  continued  in  that  office  until  the  present 
time.  Robert  N.  Fell  was  elected  Treasurer  February 
i6th,  1903,  and  William  W.  Fell  was  elected  Secretary 
November  21st,  1910.  John  Callahan  has  continued 
since  the  incorporation  of  the  company  as  General 
Manager. 

The  Franklin  Printing  Company  occupies  today 
an  assured  position  among  the  printers  of  Philadelphia. 
Though  surrounded  by  many  other  printing  establish- 
ments, where  Franklin  at  the  beginning  had  only 
two  competitors,  they  nevertheless  rejoice  in  the 
progress  of  the  industry  and  the  improvement  of  the 
trade. 

The  present  plant  is  thoroughly  modern,  as  was 
Franklin's  in  his  day.  Machinery  of  the  highest 
type,  ample  for  all  requirements  with  workmen  skilled 
to  render  the  true  Franklin  service,  are  at  the  command 
of  all  with  whom  the  company  do  business. 

Though  a  seven  days'  wonder  in  its  time,  Franklin's 
shop  could  not  produce  in  a  whole  year  the  output  of  the 
Franklin  Printing  Company  for  a  single  day  in  the  year 

1915. 

Hall's  Letter  to  Franklin  in  Reference  to 

their  Partnership  Accounts  in  the 

Printing  Business 

302  HALL,  DAVID.  Partner  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
in  the  printing  business.  Autograph  letter,  signed. 
Folio.  Philadelphia,  February  3,  1772.  With 
Address. 

This  interesting  letter  was  written  to  Franklin  dur- 
ing his  residence  in  London  and  gives  a  full  account  of 
the  profits  of  the  business  as  well  as  the  meagre  earnings 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette.  The  letter  reads  as 
follows : 

51 


"Philada.,  February  3,  1772 
''Dear  Sir: 

"Your  last  kind  Letter  to  me,  was  dated  June 
nth,  1770,  in  answer  to  mine  of  the  17th  of  March 
preceeding.  What  money  I  have  since  received  on 
our  Company  Account,  is  as  follows,  viz, 

"For  the  Gazette  from  Feby 
17,  1770  to  January  28,  1772  .    .    .     £358,13 

"By  Cash  received  for  Work] 
done,  as  credited  in  the  Ledger,  in  > 
the  above  mentioned  Time  .    .    .    .  j     181,17,10^ 


£540,io,io>^ 

"and  I  have  paid  on  your  Account  to  Mrs.  Franklin 
the  following  Monies,  as  by  her  Receipts  and 
Orders  will  appear. 

1771 

"Jany  25  For  purchasing  a 
Bill  of  Exchange  for  £30-Sterl.    .    .       £50 

"Aug  1st  16  By  Cash  paid 
Ballance  of  an  Account  from  the 
Estate  of  the  late  Mr  William 
Branson  against  you  by  Order     .    .         7)i9?7/^ 

"By  my  Part  of  Eleven  Years 
and  Three  Quarters  Gazette,  dis- 
counted in  Mr  Branson's  Account 
against  you 2,18,9 

"Oct  18,  By  Cash  pd  Mrs 
Franklin 24 

29,  Ditto  paid  Robert  Erwin 
by  Mrs  Franklin's  Order 7,12 

"Nov.  29  By  Ditto  paid  Mrs 
Franklin  for  the  purchasing  a  Lot 
of  Ground  for  you  of  Mrs  Parker    .      100 

"By  Sundries  had  in  the  shop  .  6,13,2 

52 


"I  should  be  glad  of  the  Pleasure  of  a  Letter 
from  you  soon,  and  to  know  whether  you  can  now 
fix  the  Time  of  your  setting  out  for  Philadelphia. 
I  should  be  glad  it  was  quickly,  as  Mrs  Parker  is 
now  no  more  and  I  want  much  to  have  our  Part- 
nership settled,  as  far  as  it  can  be  done,  and  to 
endeavour  to  fall  upon  some  Method,  in  order  to 
get  in  the  outstanding  Debts,  which  must  amount 
to  a  great  Deal,  if  it  was  possible  to  get  them  any- 
thing like  collected.  It  is  an  aifair,  I  think  worthy 
of  your  looking  after,  and  taking  some  Pains  to 
accomplish. 

"My  Family,  at  present,  all  in  very  good 
health — My  Wife  as  well  as  can  be  expected,  I 
did  not  think  she  would  get  over  the  Loss  of  our 
only  and  much  loved  Daughter,  but  it  has  pleased 
God  Wonderfully  to  support  her  under  that  heavy 
affliction;  and  I  really  think  she  is  better  in  her 
health  now  than  she  had  been  for  some  years  past — 
Mrs  Franklin,  Mrs  Bache,  and  Child  are  all  well, 
I  suppose  you  will  hear  from  them  by  this  Packet. 
My  Compliments  to  Mr  Bache.  I  am  glad  to  know 
by  those  who  have  seen  you  lately,  that  you  enjoy 
a  good  state  of  Health,  the  Continuance  of  which 
shall  be  always  my  most  sincere  Wish.  You  may 
believe  me  to  be, 

"Dear  Sir, 

"Yours  most  affectionately, 

"David  Hall." 


53 


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